The round one of the BrickLink Designer Program crowdfunding initiative is now open. However, it is pretty much over despite over 30 days remaining on the timer as I write this. For those who do not know, the BrickLink Designer program aims to take past 10K set from LEGO® Ideas that did not make it through the review process and provide them to fans via crowdfunding. Back in March 2021, BrickLink and the LEGO® Group announced the 31 former Ideas concepts taking part in the program. 13 of those will turn into actual, limited edition sets. Prior to the first round of crowdfunding, five designers lost their chance to participate with BrickLink citing “other obligations” of participants as the cause for removal.
This article was updated on July 8, 2021. You can read the update at the end of the article.
Castle in the Forest sold out in 30 minutes.
Initially, BrickLink announced that eight sets would enter the first round of crowdfunding. Subsequently, the first five to reach 3000 orders would end up as actual sets. Hours before going live, BrickLink postponed one of the eight sets (Mountain View Observatory). Crowdfunding officially opened at 11:00 am EST, and within one hour, we already knew which five sets made the cut. In fact, within about half an hour, the first set already sold out. That distinct honor when to Castle in the Forest. The other sets rounding out the top five (in order of crowdfunding success) were: Great Fishing Boat, Sheriff’s Safe, Pursuit of Flight, and Kakapo. As I write this, only Kakapo has not sold out. The eliminated sets in round one of the BrickLink Designer Program were Bionicle Legends and Particle Accelerator.
Great Fishing Boat sold out in less than an hour.
The LEGO® Group will produce 5000 copies maximum for each of the five crowdfunded sets. This is a hard limit based on production capacity. Luckily, I was home when the program went live. I jumped online and flew through the ordering process. Consequently, I scored one of the coveted Castle in the Forest sets. However, like a good AFOL, I only ordered one even though the limit was set to five. I assumed this set was popular, and I decided to try and help as many AFOLs get one as possible by not hoarding.
Sheriff’s Safe sold out in less than a day.
Hoarding occurred regardless. At present, you can already find them on eBay. However, you cannot find one for under $600 CAD. The set actually cost $229.99 CAD. As a limited edition, I fear that price will only rise. While I understand production capacity, I do not understand allowing people to order five of each set. The cap should have been one. If eBay is any indication, many of these sets are now heading into the hands of scalpers. Understandably, this caused backlash in the AFOL community.
Pursuit of Flight was the fourth set to sell out.
BrickLink reached out to LEGO® Ambassadors with the following message:
Thank you for the feedback, which is shared by many AFOLS!
I can assure you that we have learnt many things from the BrickLink Designer Program this time around as well. All the learnings are valuable and will be considered for future programs.
As with so many things when you try new and unchartered grounds, there will be good and bad decisions and I believe that the quantity of 5 is a learning that we will take with us when moving forward with potential new BrickLink Designer Programs.
We have gotten so much feedback and it is highly valued, if there is anything else that either of you would like to share that you believe we haven’t heard already, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Did you have an experience with round one of the BrickLink Designer Program? Do you have thoughts about the program? Whether good or bad, I would like to hear about them. Feel free to reach out in the comments below or on social media. Additionally, BrickLink is seeking AFOL feedback on their forums. This is you chance to voice concerns that potentially lead to change. You can go post directly by clicking here.
Until next time,
-Tom
UPDATE:
BrickLink has offered more information about round one of the BrickLink Designer Program. Additionally, they have given information about the future direction of the program. Essentially, round one will be reopened on August 3. The ordering cap will now be 10,000. Therefore, each set from round one will now get 5000 more kits. However, Castle in the Forest will be excluded because a glitch in the first round of ordering actually allowed 10,000 people to order it already. The cap will be 10,000 sets for all future rounds of crowdfunding. However, from now on, you can only order one copy of each set to avoid scalpers. Full details can be found by clicking here.
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